Competition Time

It’s that time again. I am sure we have had competitions in the past so why not crack off a new year with a new competition?

What do you see with your eyes?

As I have many pairs of eyes, I have chosen to look at this particular picture with my looking eyes. I was going to peer however I changed my mind at the last minute.

What you can see is previous Pouring Beans / Nish star Flat Kitty who has gone up in the world. Not only is she now one of the most fashionable, flattest cats in the world but she is also leader of a proto international underground organisation, who mainly rule through fear and terrifying oppression. They have invaded a tiny province in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and have set up camp in the middle of the town. It was bound to happen; she has been lining this up for the last decade or so. The only surprise is that she did not achieve this any earlier.

So, onto the competition. What you need to do is to come up with the funniest, strangest or most downright rudest comments to go under, on top or in both parts of the picture. The winning entry will have their efforts formally approved, laminated (maybe) and possibly even stretched onto the side of a building.

Entries must be submitted by 12:00am on 9th February 2018. Good luck!

Kitty Chang

Last night I met this kitty.

(The photo shows the cat in motion because it didn’t stay still for long.)

I wanted to share this cat with you because it is the first time I have ever met a Chinese cat and what with one of our members being Chinese I thought they might know each other.

This particular cat lived for the first six years of its life in Beijing, and its owners brought it to London when they moved here. About a year later they moved to a new flat where kitties are not allowed and the Chinese cat was rehomed with my friend Andy.

The cat has a Mandarin name that means “Little Black” and which is very hard to pronounce so these days it is generally addressed as “mate”.

Bad Day

So, after faffing around in the dark for five minutes, I sit down again on the floor and realise I’ve forgotten to get the scissors.

Rewind to five minutes prior to this. At the entrance to the kitchen I forgo turning the lights on, because I’ve lived in the flat over ten years and I know where everything is, and blunder in. In my haste I flap my arms and accidentally knock over the half-filled cup of tea sitting on the side. The tea quickly streams along the kitchen top and filters down through the drawer and the cupboard, before resting peacefully on the floor in a heap. I already feel warm, now my face is positively beaming with embarrassment.

Half an hour prior, Reuben is heading off to bed. As he slips under the covers, I reach over to grab some bags from the floor that need sorting. Something though is amiss; my hands feel wet. I look up and nothing has leaked through the ceiling. “Did you spill your drink?” I ask. “No dad,” he replies. I raise the hand to my nose and sniff. Oh joy, it’s cat piss. The cat has snuck into my room and decided to piss over my stuff, oh, and a brand new pair of school trousers too. Excellent. I’m so glad I had nothing planned for the rest of the evening, now I can put another load of washing to get rid of that oh so beautiful kitty urine aroma. Splendid.

It was not a good day.

Kitty ownership question

The other day, I found a kitty on the street near my flat and stopped to stroke it. The kitty then followed me all the way home and was quite insistent that the stroking should continue. It was all set to follow me right into the flat and the only way I could stop it coming into the building with me was to distract it temporarily while I ran inside.

This is the kitty.

I have seen the kitty on one other occasion, when my family were visiting, and it seemed equally keen to spend time with all of them. We decided to name her Kevinetta.

My question is this. The kitty appeared to want to come and live with me, but I suspect someone else thinks the kitty lives with them. If I see the kitty again, can I keep it?

Unexpected Visitor

I didn’t post this last month because I didn’t want two cat-related posts in the same month. That would be too excessive.

The doors on my car are wrong. Rather than opening like a normal car some bright spark decided that electric doors, that open like a vehicle from a science fiction series, were a good idea. They’re not, because there are so many problems involved with them.

In any case, I had left the door open for a moment as the weather was nice and I had no particular reason to close it so suddenly. It was only for a few seconds and when I checked back someone had decided that they would like a closer look around the inside:

I sat, mostly motionless, as the cat proceeded to hop into the footwell of the passenger side, then into the back seat, then back to the door again. It sniffed most of the interior, more than I have managed to sniff myself, before looking both ways and disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

Very strange. Not as strange as coming across an owl in a coffee shop yet still unusual for a Sunday afternoon.

Wrong Kittens

So what happens when everything goes right? Everyone is happy? Thrilled that there hasn’t been any problems? Of course that’s what people want. If it goes right then you get an easy life.

What if you wanted more though? What if right was just plain wrong? What if wrong was exactly what you were looking for, then what? Then what indeed. In the absence of a drum roll I present to you…

Wrong Kittens!

I think if things need to go wrong then they should do within a controlled environment. The drawings above are the results of hours and hours of research into the phenomenon of what should be and what actually is. Myself and Professor Reuben took to the old pen and paper to try and explain to the world the concept behind Wrong Kittens.

On the left you will see a rather chunky feline performing a handstand wearing high heels shoes. The gender of the cat is not important, it is more that anyone who tries to perform such a dangerous manoeuvre should not do so adorning delicate footwear. That is wrong.

On the right you will see a much smaller animal with a look that could scare the sheep out of Lincolnshire. It is more like a devil, or some ancient cave painting, depicting a surprised yet potentially evil kitten. Its tongue hangs out carelessly. What is it staring at to the left of the picture? It’s much more wrong.

We welcome anyone else’s efforts at drawing Wrong Kittens. The sky’s the limit, and there are more to follow in due course.

Flat Kitty – Presidential Candidate

On the eve of the US presidential election, some might say that attempting to put yourself forward as a candidate now would be a foolish exercise.

Such tomfoolery, however, has never been too far outside the realms of the Beans though. One who is strong of heart and stout of mind can achieve great things even with very little time to do so. It is with this in mind then that my fellow flatmate, Flat Kitty, would like to offer herself for this very prestigious of positions.

Why would she be the right person or squashed fabric soft toy for the job? What qualities does she possess that make her better than Clinton or Trump? I’m glad you asked because I have the bullet points directly below to answer those questions:

She has an honest face;
She is an ex-celebrity following the success of her Bosnian Herzegovinian smash hit of a television series with millions of fans;
Though she may not have an actual voice, she has a “voice” that can empower the smallest of people and inspire the brightest of voters;
There is nothing that she is not willing to do to get your vote;
She once popped a wheelie at the Royal Variety Performance (sources still waiting to be confirmed at this point).

As you can see, there is enough scrabbled together here to convince even the most sternest of individuals that Flat Kitty is a candidate that you can trust and is, ultimately, whom America is crying out for to lead them to a three dimensional multi-faceted glowing shoebox of tomorrow.

That and she makes a mean salad nicoise.

29 Cats

29 Cats
Were sitting in a tree
Spread out on the branches
Drinking cups of tea

One little cat
Had enough to drink
Climbed up to the top
And had a little think

That little cat
Decided he should wee
But was very lazy
So did it in the tree

28 other cats
Sat lower in the tree
Now all wet and pissy
Decided they should flee

One lonely cat
Relieved but now alone
Sat atop his lonely tree
Reading Twitter on his phone